6 ways to celebrate Black History Month in French class

Celebrating Black History Month in French classes can be daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. What can the French teachers do to participate and include a more diverse viewpoint? Many French teachers focus on France and French history – myself included! This is not because we don’t value other aspects of the francophone world, but usually it is because most of us have more experience with metropolitan France. It takes a little effort on our part to learn about other places and people, but it can be very worth it.

With the growing number of French-speakers in Africa, we do our students a disservice if we ignore the African parts of la francophonie. It can be uncomfortable to teach about things we ourselves may never have experienced, but we do need to step out of our comfort zone a little bit. After all, our science teachers likely haven’t ever run a nuclear reactor, but they can still teach students about how they work!

We must always be sensitive to the history, as some of the past can be painful to acknowledge. There are many topics in Black history that we can discuss with our students. There are many ways in which we can incorporate African history into our classes.

Ways to celebrate Black History month in French class

Discuss the role of the French language in the African countries that use it – why do they use French? How is it different from Parisian French? How many different countries use French?
Watch a TV show in French – there are quite a few African “soap opera” style shows on YouTube, as well as France24’s African news channel.
Read about some of the Francophone countries – learn about their cultures, foods, history.
Plan a virtual vacation to an African country.
Read about some of the great people from francophone Africa
Read a newspaper in French from an African country

And don’t forget the western hemisphere! Martinique, Guadeloupe and Haiti should also be part of the discussion! Celebrating Black History Month in French class doesn’t have to be limited to just Africa. Your students will likely learn about important African-Americans in their other classes, but that’s not the only part of Black History that is important to learn about.